This news just makes me shake my head.
Just before the winter holidays, Ontario elementary public school teachers held one-day strikes in about eight different regions. Approximately 35,000 teachers were protesting Bill 115. Teri Lynn Platt was one of the teachers in the picket lines explained to CP24 "We have a legal right to strike, and that's what we're doing. We're at the point now where we have to make some more noise. The government needs to listen to us and our employer needs to listen to us. We're doing our best to reach a collective agreement, but we do have shackles on us."
Yes, teachers, striking will most certainly make things go your way. They're in such an uproar about Bill 115-and I agree they have a right to be-however they seem to be ignoring a key element in Bill 115. Bill 115 is also called the Putting Students First Act. The government said the legislation was necessary to avoid teacher strikes. Ontario teachers seem to go on strike whenever they have a disagreement with the government, or they want a pay increase.
In the fall of 1997, teachers went on strike for nearly identical reasons. The government wanted to overhaul the education system, teachers didn't agree. The government, of course, doesn't care what anybody else thinks, so the teachers went on strike. The strike over Bill 160 lasted for two weeks. It appears as though this happened a second time in 1998, lasting for approximately three weeks.
April 2001 saw schools shut down for a month while janitors, secretaries, and teaching assistants fought for higher salaries.
June 2003 saw a Catholic School Board lock-out, where teachers were not allowed into the schools to teach. Again, this lasted about two weeks.
In 2008 or 2009, teachers at York University went on strike for 85 days. They walked off the job November 6th and didn't return until January 29th. The strike angered students and parents more than any other teachers strike of the past, as this greatly affected the education that was being paid for by the students and/or parents...even if the students had taken out a loan, loans still need to be paid back-with interest! The majority of the public felt the teachers were being petty and selfish. You do NOT go on strike for months during the school year when it's the students who are literally and figuratively paying for it! That was a bs move on both the teachers and the governments part.
It appears as though teachers of Ontario absolutely love going on strike. I'm not saying that they do, in fact, enjoy going on strike, I'm merely stating that they seem to do this a lot. While Bill 160 is an early model of Bill 115, the teachers tendencies to go on strike also helped shape Bill 115 and most certainly had a hand in its getting passed so easily. For while teachers form picket lines making demands, parents of young children either have to take time off work to stay home and care for their children OR pay more money to a babysitter. Most children don't mind having time off from school while the strikes happen, however the longer strikes last-or the more frequently they happen-the kids pay for it come summer when they would have been free of indoctrination for a couple months. Instead of enjoying their summer break, kids are stuck sitting at their desks when they should be playing outside-why? Because their selfish teachers were on strike earlier in the school year. The teachers of Ontario are just as responsible for the introduction of Bill 115 as the people who wrote it.
Ontario elementary school teachers feel they are offering an "olive branch" by claiming they are willing to not go on strike in January if the government promises to not impose a contract on them after the December 31st deadline. Oh, how sweet of you, teachers. They've been doing rotating one-day strikes across the province, which is different from their strikes of the past. Secondary school teachers are planning a political protest against Bill 115.
Education Minister, Laurel Broten, is refusing to back down on Bill 115.
Stop Bill 115
NYTimes
Ottawa Sun
University of Toronto Libraries
CBC News
CBC News-"Olive Branch"
York Strike 2008
The Star
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